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Having served as the 25th President of Texas A&M University from May 1, 2015, to June 1, 2021, Michael K. Young has a proven track record of academic leadership. During his tenure, Young led Texas A&M as it significantly grew its national and international reputation as a global Tier 1 research institution. As a longtime champion for academic success, Young helped launch the Lead by Example Campaign, an ambitious fundraising effort that raised $4.25 billion to fund substantial initiatives benefiting students, faculty, and staff. The University also surpassed $1 Billion in annual research funding under his leadership. Today, Texas A&M University stands as the nation’s largest public institution.
Young also served as president and tenured professor of law at the University of Washington from 2011 to 2015, where he led the nation’s top public university in competing for federal research funding, as well as its ambitious plan to double the number of new companies based on UW research. He also launched the Global Innovation Exchange, a partnership between the University of Washington, a major Chinese university, and European universities. The university also more than doubled its fundraising during his tenure.
Prior to that, Young served as president and distinguished professor of law at the University of Utah. Under his leadership, Utah raised its stature nationally and internationally, including becoming the nation’s top university in the number of new companies generated from university research. The University also built over a million square feet of academic and research space during his tenure.
Before assuming the presidency at Utah, he was Dean and Lobingier Professor of Comparative Law and Jurisprudence at the George Washington University Law School, and he was the Fuyo Professor of Japanese Law and Legal Institutions, as well as the Director of the Centers for Japanese Legal Studies and Korean Legal Studies, at Columbia University School of Law for more than 20 years. He also has been a visiting professor and scholar at numerous universities in Japan and Korea.
A graduate of Harvard Law School, Young has broad experience across legal, public service, and diplomatic arenas. He served as a law clerk to the late Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist of the U.S. Supreme Court, and he has held numerous government positions, including Deputy Legal Adviser, Deputy Under Secretary for Economic and Agricultural Affairs, and Ambassador for Trade and Environmental Affairs in the Department of State during the administration of President George H.W. Bush. Among many other international agreements, Young worked extensively on the treaties related to German unification, as well as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and Uruguay Round negotiations leading to the World Trade Organization, and the U.N. Conference on Environment and Development. Subsequently, Young served eight years on the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, which he chaired on two separate occasions.
Professor Young has also arbitrated several disputes, including as president of the arbitral panel in the case of Glamis Gold, Ltd. V. The United States of America, an arbitration under the North American Free Trade Agreement, the predecessor to the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement. He has arbitrated disputes administered by the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) and arbitrations subject to the rules of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL). He also served as the Chief Representative on behalf of the United States in the United States-United Kingdom arbitration concerning Heathrow Airport user charges. He has also served as an arbitrator in disputes involving the United Nations.
He also published extensively on a variety of topics, including topics relating to Japan — administrative law, judicial review, industrial policy, employment law, commercial transactions and joint ventures, mergers and acquisitions, contracts, dispute resolution, the role of lawyers, antitrust law, among others — as well as U.S. and international trade law, international human rights, international environmental law, and freedom of religion. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a fellow of the American Bar Foundation, and a member of the Bar of the States of New York and California.